A few years before his death, I spoke to Sir Jack Brabham.
The obvious start was to get him reminiscing about the old days.
To my surprise, he almost immediately said “you should speak to Ron Tauranac”.
Ron had a long friendship with Brabham and Ron helped him no matter which team Jack was in and then held the official position of the design expert behind the cars that carried the Brabham name.
Sir Jack’s reference wasn’t just a passing comment; a polite thank you, thrown into a speech about himself, in the style you often see at the Oscars. It wasn’t even a formal recommendation to broaden the research.
Sir Jack’s eyes lit up with enthusiasm, it seemed clear to me that Brabham felt that any discussion of his career needed to consider his mate and his mate deserved a large amount of credit.
Ron Tauranac has passed at the age of 95.
Someone who is close to motor racing and to the characters behind the events is celebrated motoring journalist Will Hagon.
In this interview with Will,
Photo by Zenio Lapka .
he covers stories such as:
- How Ron was a partner, an integral part, of Brabham’s success
- The beginning of Ron’s fascination with cars
- How he and Jack went in the 1953 Redex trial
- How Ron became the biggest builder of racing cars in the world
- The role Ron played in the career of Larry Perkins
- How Ron helped jack even before he was on his team
- Talking with Ron in his later years, attending his 90th birthday, and taking a picture of Ron beside a painting of a famous Brabham racing car.
Ron Tauranac and Sir Jack Brabham had a friendship, a collaboration, and mateship that stood the test of time including the extremely difficult, complex, and political environment of Formula 1 motor racing.
Ron was one of the special Australia’s who pioneered creative and successful technology but sadly remains less appreciate than Jack Brabham and many others know that he deserves.
